Speeding Up The Web: Faster Google Analytics And DNS

With the imminent launch of their new search infrastructure dubbed Caffeine, Google will be using page load speed as a factor in Google search results. Caffeine should be good news for those of us who have sleepless nights thinking of ways to lighten the page load.

Web performance seems to have a been a hottopic for Google lately, the latest developments bringing a new release of Analytics tracking code and a public DNS service.

Asynchronous loading

The new Google Analytics script loads asynchronously, meaning it doesn’t block other scripts from downloading. Though currently in Beta, we can expect enhanced data collection and accuracy and a reduced number of tracking errors. We’ll be giving the new code a good run, but from my initial tests it certainly delivers on the speed promise. Check the instructions and give it a spin.

Google Public DNS

As part of their efforts to make your Web browsing experience faster, Google have just released a free public DNS service. Whenever you visit a website, your browser will perform one or more DNS lookups, each typically taking a fraction of a second. During the course of a day you’ll have likely made over a hundred individual lookups, which is why Google want to make this process as fast as possible.

We’re talking about saving milliseconds, so you certainly won’t notice a dramatic difference in your browsing speed though you may notice that you’re spending less time waiting for a site to begin loading. Early reports show a marked speed increase in DNS resolution for international users, which makes it certainly worth trying. It’s also extremely easy to setup (and remove if it’s not working out for you) – see Google’s instructions.

nb. it’s best to try this at home rather than at work, unless you want to incur the wrath of your IT department!